Archive for the 'Anthony Stover' Tag Under 'UCLA' Category

UCLA coach Ben Howland, wanting to avoid walking his team through a gauntlet of drunk fans from other schools at LA Live, decided the Bruins would take a bus from the JW Marriott to the Staples Center a block away for Wednesday afternoon's Pac-12 tournament opening round game with USC.

"Last year we walked, and it's a whole going through a tunnel and walking through people that are out drinking and hanging out in LA Live," Howland said.

Bruin sophomore center Joshua Smith ended up making the journey by foot anyway.

Having spent much of the season giving away games, UCLA finally stole one.

The Bruins pulled off a season-high 15 steals en route to a 72-61 victory against Stanford at the Sports Arena Thursday night.

In a game marked by a series of runs by both teams, UCLA's defensive pressure allowed the Bruins to finally pull away in the closing minutes.

UCLA (14-10 overall, 7-5 Pac-12) now looks to further enhance its chances of securing a spot in the top four in the conference standings and the first round bye in the league tournament Saturday against Cal. Stanford dropped to 16-8, 6-6.

Bruin guard Lazeric Jones finished with a game-high 21 points, with forward Travis Wear adding 13, and guard JerimeAnderson 12. But the numbers that really stood out Thursday were 22 and 11.

Joshua Smith's teammates have been harder on him in recent days than Pac-12 officials.

From the minute Smith stepped on the team bus after putting up 19 points against Washington State Saturday, an encore for his career-high 24 points at Washington two nights earlier, the Bruins have been giving their sophomore center the needle.

"We've been making fun of him," UCLA center Anthony Stover said. "'Where's this been all season?'"

An even larger question around Westwood this week is does Smith's play last weekend in his native Washington mean he's back?

UCLA center Anthony Stover and Washington State forward Brock Motum both downplayed an incident Saturday that led to Stover getting hit with a flagrant foul and the Cougar ending up on his rear.

An increasingly chippy game boiled over with 3:21 in the first half. Motum scored on a put back over Stover and then trash talked as he back peddled down court. The conversation continued to the UCLA key where Stover basically ran the Aussie over leading with an elbow.

Joshua Smithfinally emerged from the UCLA locker-room wearing a New England Patriots stocking cap and a wide smile, in no hurry to return to Los Angeles.

The Washington native's 19-performance in UCLA's 63-60 victory against Washington State at Beasley Coliseum Saturday afternoon capped the best week of the sophomore center's college career and was instrumental in the Bruins (13-10 overall, 6-5 Pac-12) securing their first conference road win this season outside of Los Angeles.

“Huge,” UCLA back-up center Anthony Stover said of the victory.

So was Smith's homecoming this week, his play finally matching his physical stature. Saturday's effort followed up a career-high 24 points at Washington Thursday night.

Earlier this week UCLA center Anthony Stover called the Bruins' game against Washington a make or break game for UCLA's season.

Welcome to UCLA's broken season.

In losing to Washington, 71-69, UCLA blew a whole lot more than a 10-point lead in the final six minutes. The Bruins wasted a prime, and final, chance to get back into the Pac-12 regular-season race, and any lingering hope of reaching the NCAA tournament short of winning the conference tournament.

A Bruin victory at Hec Edmundson Pavilion Thursday night combined with Arizona's victory against Cal would have put UCLA within a game of first place. Instead, UCLA drops to 12-10 overall, 5-5 in the Pac-12.

Stover had another solid defensive effort in the Bruins' 75-68 loss to Oregon on Saturday, finishing with four blocked shots, four rebounds (and 2 points and an assist) in 11 minutes. Smith didn't score a field goal until the final 37.9 seconds and was largely a non-factor defensively in 12 minutes.

Stover (photo) is fourth in the Pac-12 in blocked shots (1.41 blocks per game) while Smith has yet to block a shot in Pac-12 play or against a BCS conference opponent.

Sunday Stover tweeted a Bruin Report Online analysis of the Oregon game that was critical of Howland's use of Stover, among other things.

Smith didn't score his only field goal until the final 37.9 seconds of a game in which the Bruins blew a 15-point lead. He had both more fouls (4) and turnovers (4) than rebounds (3) in 12 minutes of play.

It was Smith's fewest minutes in 13 games yet his performance raises the question of whether he should be playing even fewer minutes?

More specifically if Smith is not going to be more a factor offensively would UCLA be better off playing defensive stopper Anthony Stover, the mayor of Rejection City, instead of Smith at center?

Anthony Stover was a one-man welcoming committee to Rejection City Sunday night.

The UCLA sophomore center blocked three USC shots in a 66-47 blow out of the Trojans and altered a number of other shots in a the latest in a series of solid performances off the bench.

Stover starts the week tied for sixth in the Pac-12 in blocked shots (1.3) and likely leads the conference in blocks per minutes played. Stover needed just 12 minutes to send a trio of Trojan shots into the cheap seats and ignite the Bruins.

"It's huge," Bruin guard Jerime Anderson said of the impact of Stover's shot blocking. "It gets the entire team energized and excited out there especially if a guy's tired and they see somebody like Stove with a big block its going to energize you to keep going, keep pushing and keep going harder. And he does that for us. Just his presence out there on the floor I think elevates our team's energy at all times. Even the last guy on the bench is up when Stove gets a block so I think it really helps us a lot."

Stover's presence in the paint has also had a chilling effect on opposing offenses. Once you've been to Rejection City you're not exactly eager to make a return trip.